Shining Bind
by Kyogre
Summary: In which Anna doesn't die.


Keeping his eyes closed, Kratos listened to Yggdrasill's agitated footsteps. The leader of Cruxis had been pacing angrily since his errant Seraph was escorted into the audience chamber by Pronyma. Finally, the footsteps stopped. A sigh seemed to echo through the empty room, followed by a soft whisper of movement as Yggdrasill ran a hand through his hair.

"This is unacceptable," he finally declared. "First you disappear for four years, and now you kill Kvar. Explain yourself, Kratos."

Opening his eyes, Kratos studied the smooth marble of the floor. He had already decided exactly what he would tell his great leader, but the delivery had to be exactly right.

"Because of that bastard and his cursed project… I will never see my wife or son again," he finally spoke, draining all emotion from his voice.

In front of him, Yggdrasill was eerily silent. That sentence told him everything, why Kratos had been gone, why he killed the Desian Grand Cardinal… what it lacked in emotion, the words made clear. Kratos rarely swore, and for him to say it so easily…

There was no lie. That was finest thing.

The silence stretched as Yggdrasill's mind weighed this new information. There was no choice for him to make, however. Kvar was dead, Kratos was necessary.

"And the Angelus?"

"I destroyed it." The leader of Cruxis shifted, his expression tightening in annoyance, but Kratos cut him off, finally raising his eyes. "It took her from me," he said, lining his words with ice.

Yggdrasill scowled and turned away. "Don't think this is going to go unpunished," he warned, but Kratos remained impassive. What would he do? What could he do? He couldn't kill him, and now he had nothing to lose.

As long as no one knew…

"That is truly horrible," Frank Brunel said sympathetically, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Of course, you're welcome here in Iselia. Until you get a place of your own, please stay with us."

Anna nodded, eyes downcast and hands folded neatly in her lap.

"You're from Luin, you say?" the mayor enquired, his expression far more suspicious. "That's an awfully long way to go."

"My family was taken by the Desians," she replied quietly. "I heard about your anti-aggression treaty. I… want to raised Lloyd somewhere peaceful, safe. Please, I don't want him to go through what I experience…"

The mayor nodded, drawing back, his suspicions laid to rest at least for the moment. Frank frowned sadly as he turned to where Lloyd was playing with his daughter. No doubt he was trying to imagine her feelings.

"We are truly blessed to live in the home of the Chosen…" he murmured, watching the little girl with an undecipherable expression.

"There is… another reason," Anna began, placing one hand over her collar bone. Under the thick cloth of her shirt, she could feel the outline of the cursed crystal and her newly-made Key Crest. "I… want to aid the Chosen when she begins her journey." The two men looked at her skeptically, but she continued undeterred. "My husband was a swordsman, and he taught me a little. Please, I want to stop them from hurting anyone else."

That's right, if the Chosen completed her journey, the Desians would disappear.

But the Desians were not Anna's goal. The ones she was after were the puppet masters. Once the Chosen began her journey, she would be contacted by Cruxis. And also, that organization, the Renegades, would target her. By going with her, Anna would have a chance to reach the people involved in all of this, to destroy that horrible thing that ruled the world.

Kratos had asked - begged really - for her to just live peacefully. To raise Lloyd and be happy. Anna hadn't told him, but the idea had infuriated her. She was beign unfair, but it felt like he was trying to have it both ways. It was just like Kratos to refuse to choose a side. This was, he could remain loyal to both her and his precious student-leader. She could live out her life in relative happiness in the shadow of the Chosen, and once she was gone, Kratos could return whole-heartedly to Mithos Yggdrasill.

To him, her lifetime would be only the blink of an eye, and then...

Well, that was fine for Kratos, but Anna wasn't like that. She couldn't accept that. Maybe it was because she hadn't been beaten down for innumerable years, but she just couldn't accept this twisted world.

She'd thought it over, thought of nothing else as she waited for the dwarf Dirk to complete the Key Crest. The Chosen would begin her journey on her sixteenth birthday. Lloyd would be seventeen by then, almost an adult. He'd be alright, even without her.

And then… she would fight.

_No matter what, I'll destroy those things that keep you from me, that chain you down…_

_I'll set you free,_

_Kratos…_

Now a one-shot.


End file.
